Writing the Assignment

The Introduction

An Introduction contains the background information that lets the reader know what the report is all about, why it was written, what it is based on and how it is structured. You could use the first two dot points to make up the Introduction to  include:

• who carried out the interview, when and where
• the purpose and focus of the interview           (50 words)
• details of the Interviewee - a brief description of the interviewee (physical and psycho-social details); current and previous occupation                                                            (150 words)

The Body

Interviewee's health status

• a description of the interviewee's health status
• a discussion of the positive and negative activities impacting on their health. (Remember to keep focused on the person not the illness or health problem they have.)                                (300 words)

Personal reflection

• a discussion of your feelings about interviewing an older person
• Positive and negative aspects of the interview
• facets of the interview which had most impact on you
• any unexpected events or reactions
• any other aspects of the interview up which you wish to reflect

You could also comment on:

• pace of the discussion
• perceptions of the feelings of the interviewee
• what you would do differently next time and why
• were there any surprises for you in the responses, the content, the interview process etc?                                            (400 words)

When you write about these you will need to be objective about your skills and about the factors that affected the interview and you will also comment on how and why they affected the communication taking place. It is at these points that you will need to refer to the literature and reference.

For example:

The interview was interrupted several times by phone calls from a family friend who was experiencing a crisis and needed to ask advice. Any interruptions in an interview inhibit effective communication (Smith 1999) and in the case of Mrs S. the interruptions prevented her from staying focused on the topics and several times she needed reminding of what she had been saying before being interrupted. One noticeable moment when the success of the interview was affected was when Mrs S. started to discuss the embarrassment that her incontinence had created. This topic is widely discussed in the literature (Joma 1998; Hong 2000).   After the phone call, she no longer wanted to talk about this topic.

If you refer to information from other sources, be sure you reference them correctly. For more details about referencing look at Chapter 9 of Strategies for Success in Nursing Studies. You can link to an electronic version of the Referencing guide.

The conclusion

Your conclusion needs to:

• comment on the value of the interview for you personally and as an exercise for students of nursing                          (100 words)

Referencing:

Referencing of the paper should occur where appropriate. That is, you are expected to provide a reference list and all items on your reference list should be in your assignment as at least one in-text reference (ie author date in brackets).

Appendices

You need to include your Consent Form and tape. Any Appendices should be referred to in the report, for example A transcript of the interview is included as an Appendix A. 

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